League of Legends players suspended for harrasment, abusive behavior

There’s something to be said for talent, but there’s also something to be said about being a decent human being. It’s important for communities to police the behavior of their members, for the good of the community as a whole.

With this in mind, we hail Riot Games and the League of Legends community for suspending professional players Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodriquez and Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm. Riot Games has suspended the two from playing the game for six months, after investigating and confirming that the two have been harrassing and verbally abusing other players, including using racial slurs. Subsequently, Ninjas in Pyjamas, the professional team the two players were members of, have let go of them from their team.

This is the full statement from Ninjas in Pyjamas:

Ninjas in Pyjamas have released Erlend “NukeDuck” Holm and Alfonso “Mithy” Rodriguez from our roster with immediate effect. This is as a direct result of the recent suspension they have both received from Riot due to breach of code of conduct which bans them from competition for the rest of 2014. Therefore they are unable to participate in Coke Series in 2014.

This is a highly regrettable situation that the players can only blame themselves for. Ninjas in Pyjamas do not condone this kind of behavior and we hope that the players take the time to learn from this incident and come back to competitive play in the future with a refreshed attitude.

It may be a surprise and a disappointment to you, but this behavior is not at all new or unusual in gaming, in the professional community, among casual players, or anywhere. We feel that Riot Games’ example should be one many other game companies and gaming communities can learn from.